ved to confer upon the persons who caught it the power
of rendering themselves invisible at will.

In my opinion, the great prehistoric midsummer festival to the sun god
has diverged into the two Church feasts, Eucharist and St. John's day;
but St. John's day has absorbed the greater share of old customs and
superstitious ideas, and so numerous are they that the most meagre
description of them would yield matter for an hour's reading.

_HALLOWE'EN._

The northern nations, like the Hebrews, began their day in the evening.
Thus we have Yule Eve, and Hallow Eve (Hallowe'en), the evenings
preceding the respective feasts. The name Hallowe'en is of Christian
origin, but the origin of the feast itself is hidden in ancient
mythology. The Celtic name for the autumn festival was _Sham-in_,
meaning Baal's Fire. The Irish Celts called it _Sainhain_, or
_Sainfuin_; _Sain_, summer, and _Fuin_, end,--i.e., the end of summer.
The Hebrews and Phoenicians called this festival _Baal-Shewin_, a name
signifying the principle of order. The feast day in Britain and Ireland
is the first of November. The Druids are said on this day to have
sacrificed horses to the sun, as a thank-offering for the harvest. An
Irish king, who reigned 400 A.D., commanded sacrifices to be made to a
moon idol, which was worshipped by the people on the evening of
_Sain-hain_. Sacrifices were also offered on this night to the spirits
of the dead, who were believed to have liberty at this season to visit
their old earthly haunts and their friends,--a belief this, which was
entertained by many ancient nations, and was the origin of many of the
curious superstitious customs still extant in this country on
Hallowe'en. Dr. Smith, commenting in _Jamieson's Dictionary_ on the
solemnities of Beltane, says, "The other of these solemnities was held
upon Hallow Eve, which in Gaelic still retains the name of
_Sham-in_,--this word signifying the Fire of Peace, or the time of
kindling the fire for maintaining peace. It was at this season that the
Druids usually met in the most central places of every country to adjust
every dispute and decide every controversy. On that occasion, all the
fires in the country were extinguished on the preceding evening, in
order to be supplied next day by a portion of the holy fire which was
kindled and consecrated by the Druids. Of this, no person who had
infringed the peace, or become obnoxious by any breach of law, or guilty
of any failure in